CC-122, a new IMID or immuno-modulator in trials for CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia)

Stairs to the beach at Torrey Pines State Park

Hi friends,

This week in the Beyond the Basics/Treatment section of our website, we’ve posted an article about some ongoing promising immunological research in CLL with the agent CC-122. While much of the recent excitement, for very good reasons, has been about the new class of drugs that block the B-cell receptor such as ibrutinib and idelalisib, or the fresh approval of venetoclax that inhibits BCL-2 leading to programmed cell death, there is still a need for more and Celgene has led the way with a different and important approach, namely drugs that tweak our disrupted immune system such as lenalidomide and now CC-122. You can read my commentary and read about the research that is ongoing here. 

I suspect immune therapies will be needed to seal the deal for many of us. Now that research with lenalidomide in CLL is slowing down, trials with CC-122 may be part of our future.

The full article and the alert with news of some upcoming patient meetings is on the website.

Stay strong.

We are all in this together.

Brian

HEADING HOME FROM ASH

Our flight is delayed from Orlando and we have a tight connect in Phoenix. What else is new! Not looking good.

ASH 2015 was amazing.  So much good news and clarifying news on novel therapies.

Watch here and on the CLL Society website for the news, interviews and updates.

Here are a few teasers:

• Venetoclax (ABT-199) looks very helpful for those who have failed ibrutinib or idelalisib.
• ACP-196, a new BTK  inhibitor has stellar results with few side effects.
• Ibrutinib does a super job upfront in the over 65 gang. Should become standard of care frontline.
• The addition of idelalisib to bendamustine and rituximab (BR) greatly improves outcomes, but the use of idelalisib frontline needs to be managed more carefully to get the good results it offers due to increased risk of liver issues.
• Promising results with new signal blockers such as ONO-4059 and duvelisib and TG-1202 and the immune modulator, CC-122 and high dose methylprednisolone (HDMP) and new antibodies and much more.

More details and other results soon.

Stay strong.

Gotta get ready for our flight, I hope. The problem is a broken bathroom door.

UPDATE: After changing the flight 3 times, we would have missed our connection by about 15 minutes, so we changed everything to fly into LAX  more than an hour from home, but at least in the same time zone. Our bags are a different story.

Brian